XMM-Newton Perspective of the Unique Magnetic Binary-epsilon Lupi
Date
2024-10-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Astrophysical Journal
Abstract
The epsilon Lupi A (HD 136504) system stands out among magnetic massive binaries as the only short-period binary system in which both components have detectable magnetic fields. The proximity of the magnetospheres of the components leads to magnetospheric interactions, which are revealed as periodic pulses in the radio light curve of this system. In this work, we aim to investigate the magnetospheric interaction phenomenon in the X-ray domain. We observed this system with the XMM-Newton telescope, covering its orbital period. We observe variable X-ray emission with maximum flux near periastron, showing similarity with radio observations. The X-ray spectra show significantly elevated hard X-ray flux during periastron. We attribute the soft X-ray emission to individual magnetospheres, while the hard X-ray emission is explained by magnetospheric interaction, particularly due to magnetic reconnection. However, unlike in the radio, we do not find any significant short-term X-ray bursts. This exotic system may be an ideal target to study magnetospheric interactions in close binaries with organized magnetospheres.
Description
This article was originally published in The Astrophysical Journal. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7028.
© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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Citation
Biswas, Ayan, Gregg A. Wade, Poonam Chandra, Veronique Petit, Barnali Das, and Matthew E. Shultz. “XMM-Newton Perspective of the Unique Magnetic Binary-ϵ Lupi.” The Astrophysical Journal 974, no. 2 (October 1, 2024): 182. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7028.